Add another one to the “you can’t make this stuff up” file. Tom Friedman is now quoting from “Batman: The Dark Knight” to explain ISIS, Boko Haram and their ilk:
Tom Friedman must have run out of cliches. Now he's stealing them from Hollywood and quoting Batman http://t.co/qHeYNOrT6z
— Abheek Bhattacharya (@abheekb) October 5, 2014
Friedman is referring to the scene when Alfred tells Batman that “some men” — like the Joker — “just want to watch the world burn.” You see? The Joker is ISIS/Boko Haram and President Obama is, we guess, Batman.
Is Friedman even talking about the right movie, however?
@AntDeRosa I swear to Zod that Friedman likely hasn't even seen Nolan's Batman films. ISIS is clearly Bane, not the Joker.
— Nicholas Slayton (@NSlayton) October 5, 2014
Bane as ISIS would make more sense. Anyway, it’s not only that Friedman is using a Batman quote to make his overly simplistic point, it’s that this quote takes up nearly 30% of his column:
This 850-word Tom Friedman column contains 250 words of dialogue from a Batman movie. http://t.co/KzqgICfDNW
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) October 4, 2014
But, hey, maybe this is a good thing?
I approve of Friedman padding his op-eds with 30% Batman quotes, and look forward to the day when they consist entirely of Batman quotes
— flglmn (@flglmn) October 5, 2014
https://twitter.com/andrewpcagle/status/518636375487160320
Twitter isn’t exactly on board with the Batman analogy, however:
This is perhaps the most Tom Friedman column to ever Tom Friedman: http://t.co/2eWvUUHzqX
— Andrew Lebovich (@tweetsintheME) October 5, 2014
Recommended
@joshuafoust @BuzzFeedBen I'm sure Friedman knows as much about Batman as he does about fornicating. (h/t George Patton)
— Just Tom (@thomasa56) October 5, 2014
https://twitter.com/RandoDaily/status/518787147734597632
The Thomas Friedman column extensively quoting Batman – LOL. I also find more wisdom in average bit of Dark Knight dialogue than TF column.
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) October 4, 2014
This broke my Tom Friedman article generator: http://t.co/wuxUyi5TLh
— Ben SK (@bensk) October 5, 2014
Tom Friedman has got the Middle East all figured out because Batman. http://t.co/n39iZLaDDd
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 5, 2014
And this is 100% accurate:
https://twitter.com/PaulSzoldra/status/518801235667734528
Maybe the Times can save even more money by having Tom Friedman start doing movie reviews in the Arts & Leisure section?
Related:
Wolf Blitzer/Tom Friedman interview makes Daniel Drezner ‘want to gnaw my arm off’
Hysterical! What would happen if NYT’s Thomas Friedman pulled a Maureen Dowd?
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